I can tell you it was mentally taxing to try and ambush a buck in the lower country. Forget about a tree stand as there are beau coup cedars and junipers but virtually nothing stout enough to hang a stand in. You just have to try and find some bucks and pattern them until you have an idea of their prefered ins and outs between their food source and bedding areas. Then you can lay up on their route and try an ambush. I can tell you the bigger bucks didn't grow their impressive antlers by being stupid! If the wind shifts, or you crunch some lava under a boot sole, have your arrow fall off a rest, rustle a limb on a bush, whatever...they are up and gone! Spooky bastards!
I had one buck in particular, a 6X5 with a tripod back fork that was pretty dang heavy horned and a spread in excess of 30", that I kept dogging day after day. One day he came out too far south, the next day too far north, the next day right where I wanted him if I'd of stayed where I was the day before....frustrating for sure! I went home to AZ for a few days to stamp out some fires at the office and returned to the same area and the place was covered up in bucks! I laid in wait in some lava rocks and sure enough, there he was, across a grassy flat and up in the edge of some sage and cedars. He wouldn't cross the flat towards my position, but rather bedded in the brush and cedar trees. I backed out, drove my truck way around the country, totally changed all my clothes, put on the scent absorb powders and sprays, started a s-l-o-w stalk on a powder-soft sandy trail, until I was about where I thought I'd be in line with his bed area and down wind of the bugger. Sure enough, I started slipping up into the thick stuff and there he was, bedded right freaking there! He pegged me, froze and then exploded from his bed and pounded the heck out of there. Bummer! It's fun but frustrating. I probably have 10 stories like this just from that hunt. It was a blast and you'll have a great time too.
